


where we draw the line

by yongalicious



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Office, Happy Ending, Implied/Referenced Cheating, Jisung is a kid, M/M, Minor Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul | Ten/Qian Kun, Minor Dong Si Cheng | WinWin/Jung Yoonoh | Jaehyun, Office Shenanigans, author is a mess, but so is the office gang
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-03
Updated: 2021-02-03
Packaged: 2021-03-15 12:48:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,326
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29064600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yongalicious/pseuds/yongalicious
Summary: Ten nodded. “Do you think they’re cheating on their partners with each other?” he wondered, still keeping his voice low.“I don’t know,” Sicheng huffed, “But it’s a possibility. Though, we both know that Taeyong-hyung is too good of a person to do something like that.”“Yeah,” Ten agreed, heaving a breath out, “Do we have any way to know for sure?”His coworker shook his head. “No,” he replied, “But if there’s something going on, one of them will slip up eventually.”
Relationships: Lee Taeyong/Suh Youngho | Johnny
Comments: 8
Kudos: 135
Collections: Johnny Fic Fest: Round Two





	where we draw the line

**Author's Note:**

> this fic is a mess and I never meant to make it longer than 5k words, but here we are.
> 
> I hope whoever prompted this likes the outcome, because I had a lot of fun writing this. 
> 
> Also a big thank you to my beta, without her I’d have reread this another 100 times. 
> 
> #JS039

“Were you really boyfriends with the new guy?”

Barely 9 am on the clock and Ten was already trying to get into his coworkers’ personal business.

Taeyong gave him a confused look, "You mean Johnny?" he asked, raising his eyes from the file he was working on.

"No, I'm talking about the 57-year-old man in the sales department--Of course I'm talking about Johnny." Ten sighed, resting his hands on Taeyong's desk.

Taeyong blinked a couple of times at Ten's question, looking like his coworker's words didn't even register in his mind.

"Yeah," he answered, shrugging.

Ten waited for further explanation to come out of his coworker, but he immediately deflated at the realization that he wasn't going to get anything else out of the other’s mouth if he didn’t start to dig a little by himself. “Yeah? Just that?” he asked with an unamused expression on his face, “What was he like in the college?”

Taeyong hummed slowly, still typing away on his laptop. “Well, he was thinner… I think,” he let his eyes wander to the ceiling and Ten thought for a second that _that_ was all he was going to get from his coworker. Then, unexpectedly, Taeyong added more, “And he had these round glasses that made him look like a nerd. I really liked them, though, I was so sad when he decided to switch to contact lenses...”

And the conversation ended just like that. Partly because Ten felt like he was forcing the words out from his friend’s mouth and partly because Jaehyun called him to ask about some documents--which Ten had nothing to do with, by the way--and Ten, being the Good Samaritan that he was, helped his coworker find the file he was desperately looking for and bring it to Taeil.

“Thanks, man,” Jaehyun thanked him, sighing as Ten walked him back to his desk.

“Don’t worry,” Ten patted his back with a grin etched on his lips, “I didn’t have much to do, anyway, I was just trying to get Taeyong to spill some info about his ex.”

Jaehyun’s eyes widened slightly before stopping him and holding onto Ten’s shoulder. “What?” Ten frowned. _What was he doing?_

“You wanna know about his college boyfriend?” Jaehyun asked with his hands on Ten’s shoulders.

“Why are you being so weird?” Ten shrugged his coworker’s hands off, “I wanted to see if, you know, that dude coming to work here had any effect on him, I mean—I know I’d be pretty uncomfortable if one of my exes came to work here.” Ten shivered solely at the thought of seeing one of his past flings again. _Obviously they weren’t all bad, but he’d only be comfortable with a few of them._

Jaehyun nodded in understanding- Ten didn’t know why; Jaehyun had dated only 2 people in his entire life and he was already working with one of them- and got closer to Ten, as if ready to tell him a secret. “I get where you’re coming from, but you know that Taeyong is mature and adult enough to know about these things,” Jaehyun murmured to him, and Ten agreed. He knew that, he’d been friends with Taeyong for almost a year now. 

“But hey, listen here,” Jaehyun started whispering and Ten frowned at the gesture, “The ex boyfriend is my desk mate and he’s going to be here literally any minute now.”

“Why didn’t you start with that?!” When Ten heard that, he immediately shoved Jaehyun out of the way. He then proceeded to walk over his coworker’s desk and perch himself right there... and there he waited.

Jaehyun laughed at him, “You’re really going to sit there like a hawk until he comes?”

“Absolutely,” Ten nodded and there he stayed.

Though, he really didn’t have to wait that much. As the sounds of keyboards being lightly tapped and morning chatter filled the air, Ten found himself on a phone call with Kun. It was nice even if they didn’t have much to tell each other since they had already talked plenty during breakfast that day. Ten appreciated the gesture nonetheless. Right as they were saying their goodbyes, Ten heard someone approach the desk.

He turned around and was quickly met with a guy so _tall_ he had to crane his neck to look at his face.

“Good morning,” he greeted no one in particular and took his coat off to sit down on his chair. 

Ten was still there.

He blinked a couple of times in silence before deciding that hey, maybe it was time to finally introduce himself to his new coworker. 

“Hi, I don’t think we’ve met yet,” he began, offering his hand, startling the man that had just started turning on his laptop, “I’m Ten, I’m one of Taeyong’s friends.”

The other smiled. “I’m Johnny,” he shook Ten’s hand.

_He’s married too_ , Ten briefly thought, noticing that the other had a wedding band on. 

“So, how has been working here so far?” he asked, figuring that he could always get actual information from the guy himself rather than past memories from Taeyong.

Johnny nodded, humming. “It’s been nice,” he gestured around, “People here are neat and laid back, plus I have a pretty flexible schedule.”

_Oh?_ Ten raised an eyebrow at that. Why would he need a flexible schedule? He didn’t seem like the type to have a necessity for it yet-

A phone started ringing pretty loudly near the both of them and it took Johnny a second to realize that it was, _indeed_ , his. Ten didn’t get the chance to see the contact name, but the smile that Johnny had on his lips gave it away pretty easily- it was probably his partner.

“Hello?” the man answered and Ten offered him a wave to signal that he was going to leave. Johnny smiled at him, waving back. “Hi, Jisungie. Did you take mommy’s phone again?”

Ten’s eyes widened. Johnny didn’t look that much older than him and yet he already had a _child_. The fact was absolutely mind blowing for him. 

He froze on the spot for a brief second before regaining his composure. _Wow_ , he thought, _does Taeyong even know about this?_

“Oh? You already miss me? Don’t worry, we’ll see each other later,” Johnny continued his call as Ten scurried away, making a mental note to _definitely_ inform Taeyong about this- he was pretty sure his friend didn’t know (and didn’t _want_ to know) anything about it.

***

It was finally October, exactly one month after Johnny joined the office and exactly the time around which the guys started to notice that something was off.

Ten- because of course it was Ten, the most observant person in the whole marketing department ( _probably the entire building, too_ )-was the first one to sense that something had started to feel off.

It started as a simple feeling. Nothing serious, just an innocent presentment. 

Ten had noticed how the relationship between Taeyong and Johnny seemed good. He was glad about that, at first he’d been worried that they would feel awkward around each other considering their… past together.

But _no_. They were doing great, apparently. Ten found them more than once in the break room giggling by themselves, chatting or whispering between each other.

He personally found it kinda _odd_. He didn’t have that kind of relationship with his exes- god forbid he did, _especially_ after what some of them put him through- but after some talking with Kun he came to the realization that not everyone shared the same experiences, of course, and that Johnny and Taeyong probably left each other on good terms.

_That was probably it_.

Or, at least, that’s what Ten and his coworkers thought at the beginning.

It started out small, subtle, like most things do.

Ten and Taeyong were chatting away in the break room, as they usually did after lunch, when they were joined by their other coworkers.

Johnny approached Taeyong and comfortably rested his arm on the other’s shoulders. Frankly, it was endearing- Ten had to admit that he kind of envied those two for having such a nice relationship despite being exes. He would love to still be close to some of his own past boyfriends, but most of them were dicks and Ten wouldn’t dare stand less than twenty feet away from them.

Just as he was watching them, though, he noticed how relaxed his two coworkers were, exchanging whispers and secret smiles between comments directed towards the conversation at hand. 

After a few minutes, Jaehyun excused himself. “Sorry guys, I really want to get some documents done before I clock out later, I’d hate to bring home work.”

Sicheng disappeared just moments later, wanting to get something done too, and the others followed. 

Ten stayed behind to finish his coffee and coincidentally heard the conversation the other two people left in the room- Taeyong and Johnny- were having.

“Are we still going out for dinner tonight?” asked Taeyong, moving towards the exit.

The other nodded, humming. “Yeah, it’s been a while since we last went out like this, don’t you think?”

And Taeyong had smiled. “You’re right, it’ll be a nice change.”

With that, Ten stopped being able to hear them and instantly regretted eavesdropping in on their conversation. _What was that even about?_ He wondered if those two went out for dinner often- Johnny had started working at the company less than five weeks prior, so how often could they have met during that time span?

_Also… “nice change”? What the hell was that?_

Ten didn’t really know- how could he possibly know anything about it? It’s not like Taeyong liked talking a whole lot about himself and he wasn’t all that familiar with Johnny, so he really had no idea. 

He unconsciously held onto those thoughts and found room for more confusion just a week later, when he heard Jungwoo talk about a possible night out between coworkers.

“We’ll do it like usual: we clock out and go straight to drinking,” he’d smiled at his others work friends, earning a few chuckles, “I was thinking about this Thursday-”

Taeyong hummed at that. “Johnny goes to the gym on Thursdays,” he said, tucking a hand under his chin, “How about Friday? We don’t have to worry about going to work hungover that way.”

With that, the others agreed on a place to go to and dispersed immediately after.

_Huh_. 

The second person who started to notice things were becoming… odd… was Jaehyun.

Which, _admittedly_ , was a surprise- at least for Ten, considering he’d always thought his friend was a bit lost in his own world and his thoughts of Sicheng.

He was still Johnny’s deskmate, though, so him noticing something was eventually bound to happen. 

The first time he’d ever questioned Johnny and Taeyong’s current relationship was on an unassuming day, where things were especially slow and particularly boring for him.

Johnny had disappeared for some reason and had left his phone on his desk without a care in the world- Jaehyun noticed that only when said phone started ringing, though.

He got startled by the sudden noise and immediately started searching for the source of the sound, finally realising that Johnny- the man that, for some reason, never put in do-not-disturb mode his phone- had left his device on his desk, in front of Jaehyun.

Jaehyun, as the good friend that he prided himself to be, craned his neck in order to see who was the caller and was left quite shocked to see that the contact name was just a “Kitten” with a string of emojis. He honestly didn’t think Johnny would be the kind of guy to put his wife’s name as something _so_ risqué, especially since he had the bad habit to leave his phone around so carelessly.

He smirked to himself at the newly acquired knowledge- that Johnny and his wife were either extra on the whole pet names gig or were onto something _kinky_ \- and waited for the phone to stop ringing. 

Once Johnny came back from wherever the hell he’d been, Jaehyun greeted him with a whistle and a million unanswered questions… that he kept for himself, because he wasn’t Ten.

Johnny smiled at him confusedly. “Did something happen while I was away?” he asked, completely clueless.

Jaehyun shrugged, still grinning like a madman. “Nothing special, you just got a call,” he explained, then he scrunched his nose, “Man, dude, I didn't think you’d be the type to call your wife as something as cheesy as _Kitten_.”

His coworker frowned at that. _Uh-oh_ , Jaehyun thought, maybe it wasn’t even his wife? He’d just assumed-

“Oh sorry? It wasn’t your wife, maybe? I just read that the contact name was Kitten, so I-”

But he was interrupted by Johnny’s loud laugh. What was happening? Jaehyun had absolutely _no clue_ and was currently regretting even opening his mouth in the first place. Maybe Ten was right when he said Jaehyun never knew what was going on?

“Oh my God,” Johnny finally said in between cuckles, “No, Jaehyun, sorry to disappoint, but the one calling me minutes ago was actually _Taeyong_.”

Jaehyun’s mind went blank.

“ _Huh_?”

Johnny wiped the tears away from his eyes, not really paying attention to the very confused Jaehyun that sat in front of him. 

“Taeyong is… Kitten?” Jaehyun wondered out loud, suddenly feeling like he missed a memo somewhere along the way. What was up with that?

His coworker nodded, still not completely recovered. “Yeah, it was a joke we started way back in college,” he answered, looking very amused, “Oh God, I haven’t thought about that in a while, it brings back so many memories…” he mumbled, looking at his phone with a soft expression.

Jaehyun remained stunned in his seat. 

“Anyways, I’ll go and see what he wanted to tell me,” he looked up, smiling, “Thanks, Jae”.

And Jaehyun nodded, watching his coworker leave with a very happy stride.

He sat there though, wheels still turning and brain smoking from being so overworked in such a short period of time. Jaehyun didn’t exactly know what just went down in front of him? He frankly had no clue about what just happened.

Was it normal to keep your exes’ number saved in your phone for such a long time? Johnny was already 27 or something, he left college long ago, didn’t he? He had a wife and a kid now! Didn’t this woman question who the hell was even this _Kitten_ number her husband had in his contact list? Was Jaehyun overthinking this? _Maybe_?

He didn’t really know. It wasn’t like he had all that experience in dating.

Jaehyun should’ve definitely talked to Ten… Maybe he’d know something about it.

Or maybe not…

Still, Jaehyun acted as if everything in his brain was normal for the following days, until Johnny gave him another chance to get confused out of his mind.

This time, it happened in the break room, where the two of them were talking amongst themselves.

“...So, how about we go and watch the game this Saturday?” Jaehyun had asked at some point of the conversation, remembering that Johnny was also a fan of the basketball team that was going to play that week.

Johnny hummed. “I don’t know, Jae… Taeyong said he wants to do something this weekend and I already told him I was free”.

“What do you mean?” Jaehyun frowned.

His coworker shrugged, drinking a sip of his coffee. “I mean that I’d already promised to go with him, so I don’t think I can be there on Saturday.”

And Jaehyun wondered why would Johnny follow Taeyong to some place so carelessly. Maybe he had ex boyfriend privileges? Jaehyun had no idea why this didn’t sit right with him, especially considering the whole contact name thing…

It was just weird.

And a bit suspicious. Maybe.

He didn’t really know, he had yet to talk to Ten.

Still, he told Johnny to enjoy his weekend--even if he wanted to ask the million questions that flew around in his head, like “ _When did Taeyong ask you to hang out_?”, “ _Why do you never talk about your wife? Is she ugly or something?_ ”, “ _Why don’t I get_ “first work friend” _privileges like Taeyong does_?” and other things like that--and the conversation ended with Johnny leaving to actually do some work and Jaehyun rummaging through his pocket to grab his phone, call Ten and finally talk to him about the whole situation.

***

“You’re going to the new cafe downstairs? Yes? Wait for me, I’ll come with you.”

Ten’s morning didn’t start in a good way. He’d come into the office with this craving for coffee and wondered if the newest addition to the street would be any good to get a mocha at that time of day.

Unfortunately for him, his morning got busy as soon as it started and his plans for a nice coffee and, maybe, a muffin or two, had gone flying out the window. 

Lunch went the same; he had to stick around the office to make sure the interns didn’t mess any of the documents he’d already drafted that morning. 

Then, the afternoon lull started to weigh on Ten’s poor, tired shoulders, and thoughts of coffee and food began to flood his mind again.

Lucky for him, Sicheng was planning to visit the new shop and Ten jumped at the offer to ditch work.

They fell into easy chatter and, once they got to the lobby, they were met with the sight of one of their coworkers.

“Oh, hi, Johnny,” Ten started, a bit surprised, “What are you doing here?”

Johnny smiled at them, phone clutched in his hand. “Ah, nothing, I’m just waiting for someone.”

“Oh my, has the time we meet your wife finally come?” Ten smiled knowingly, earning a mean glare from Sicheng and a chuckle from Johnny.

Their tallest coworker opened his mouth to say something, but was suddenly cut off.

“Johnny!” a woman came into the lobby with a toddler in her arms, a relieved smile of her face. 

Johnny smiled back, briefly hugging the woman, easily taking the child into his own arms. 

“Thanks again for keeping an eye on Jisung for me,” she muttered, lips still curved upwards, “And I’m so so so sorry for the little notice, but you know how it is… at the hospital everyone is doing crazy turns and everything is such a mess, I-“

“Hey, it’s fine,” Johnny quickly stopped her from rambling further, “Don’t worry about me, Jisung and I are gonna be just fine,” he assured.

“Yeah!” Ten decided that exactly that moment was the best one to finally introduce himself to Johnny’s wife, “Your kid is fine with us, we’re all responsible adults.”

The woman finally shifted her gaze from Johnny to Ten and Sicheng. She kept on smiling, silently thanking the both of them.

“And don’t worry anymore, alright?” Ten went on, taking her by the elbow to direct her towards the doors of the lobby, “Plus, have some faith in your husband, he’s a good guy, I’m sure he’ll have no problem with little Jisung.”

Johnny’s wife seemed confused at his words and Ten quickly wondered if, _oh no, did he say something stupid?_ , but his train of thought was cut off by Johnny’s own voice.

“You’re gonna be late!” he spoke up, urging his wife to leave, “We’ll see you later, bye.”

And with that she was gone, leaving the three men with little Jisung in the otherwise empty lobby of their company. 

“I’m hungry, do you have anything to eat?” Jisung asked, making Johnny hum.

“I don’t think I have anything for you, Jisungie,” he said, prompting Ten to open his mouth again

“Johnny, Sicheng and I were going to try out the cafe that opened on the other side of the street,” he started, “We could always bring back something for little Jisung here.”

Their coworker looked at them with stars in his eyes. Jisung too. They looked really alike. “Really? Oh my God, thanks guys. Jisung can eat anything, so bring back whatever and he’ll be fine.”

With that Ten and Sicheng went on their quest to become Jisung’s favorite uncles. They completely forgot the reason they were even in the cafe in the first place. They didn’t bother picking up some coffee for themselves, _no_ , they launched themselves in ordering a flurry of pastries and slices of different cakes. 

It was almost embarrassing.

_Almost_ , Ten realized, because it could’ve been worse if he was the only one committing to this- lucky for him, Sicheng also seemed eager to be liked by their coworker’s little kid.

They got back to the office in under 10 minutes, which said a lot. _Ten is sure he’d never taken a quicker break in all the years of work he’d ever done_. 

Sicheng was the first one to spot Johnny and Jisung- it wasn’t that hard, half of their female coworkers were already cooing and asking to hold the kid. 

“Here we are!” Ten announced with a loud voice, startling Johnny, “Jisung’s favorite uncles have brought snacks!”

Johnny looked at them with a glint of amusement in his eyes, thanking them kindly. “Thank you guys, you didn’t have to buy so much food, though,” a hint of amusement was etched on his lips.

Ten shook his head, tutting lowly. “He’s a growing child, Johnny, he needs all the food he can get his hands on!”

Sicheng nodded. “Yeah, I read somewhere that it’s good to feed children properly and Jisung here looks like he’s starving.”

Johnny rolled his eyes, but let his son take a muffin and devour it. Ten congratulated himself, it seemed that his goal of becoming this unknown child’s favorite person was met.

The three men stayed around Jisung for a couple minutes before Johnny was called by Taeil to review a few documents he’d submitted that same morning.

Ten didn’t waste any time and immediately started questioning Jisung. 

“Jisungie, do you like what uncle Ten and uncle Sicheng brought you?” he asked.

The toddler nodded, face dirty of chocolate and cream. He was such a cute kid! Ten couldn’t think of many adorable children- he didn’t really like them in the first place- but Jisung was definitely the cutest child he’d met in a while.

“Yes, thank you,” Jisung said after a couple of seconds, maybe remembering what his parents taught him.

Ten cooed, Sicheng following the suit.

The two of them exchanged a look, then, “Jisungie, who’s your favorite uncle?”

Sicheng spared him an unimpressed glance before putting his though-guy bravado on, obviously trying to get chosen by the toddler. Ten did the same, showing the child one of his brightest smiles in the hopes of being his top choice.

They were really embarrassing, now that Ten really thought about it.

Jisung pondered on the matter for a while- Ten checked, and it took him about 8 minutes to finally make up his mind.

“Taeyongie-hyung is my favorite uncle,” he replied then, shocking to the core of them both.

“Taeyong?” Ten wondered aloud, thoroughly confused by the toddler’s statement.

How could Jisung know Taeyong? Hadn’t Johnny been in the company just for four months? 

Ten glanced at Sicheng, who now had a hand under his chin, seemingly lost in thought.

“Jisung, how long have you known Taeyong-hyung?” Sicheng asked, still trying to piece together the pieces of their puzzle.

The toddler munched on another slice of cake while thinking. Maybe it was a difficult question to ask a child, Ten realized- though he knew nothing of children, so he couldn’t really speak from experience or knowledge. 

Then, Jisung held up three fingers. “This long,” he replied.

Ten’s brows furrowed. “Three months?” he repeated at a lower volume, looking at Sicheng.

Sicheng hummed. “I had no idea Taeyong-hyung had such a good relationship with Johnny-hyung.”

“Yeah, me neither,” Ten sighed, “But don’t you find it weird? I mean, not the fact that they’re close, but the fact that they’re a bit _too_ close?”

Sicheng raised a brow, fully turning his head towards his coworker. “What do you mean?”

Ten groaned. “I mean, don’t you find it weird that they know so much about each other after meeting again just months ago?”

He glanced at Jisung to see if he was listening, but found him paying close attention to the slice of cake in front of him. He was way too engrossed in his food to even care about their conversation.

Ten lowered his voice anyway. “I mean, I could look past the occasional inside jokes they tell each other, but they know each other’s schedules by heart,” Ten pointed out, “Taeyong-hyung even knows what times Johnny-hyung goes to the gym and they have dinner together every other day.”

Sicheng made a face at that- he clearly hadn’t thought that much about the two of them. Ten realized that, maybe, he’d overanalyzed a bit their relationship, but they were making it so hard not to. He’d even talked about it with Kun a couple of weeks earlier and he’d agreed that it was, indeed, a bit odd. Maybe not as weird as Ten made it out to be, but still a bit curious for their level of friendship.

“Yeah, I mean, you’re right,” Sicheng said after a couple of moments, looking at Jisung, “It’s weird now that you pointed it out.”

Ten nodded. “Do you think they’re cheating on their partners with each other?” he wondered, still keeping his voice low.

“I don’t know,” Sicheng huffed, “But it’s a possibility. Though, we both know that Taeyong-hyung is too good of a person to do something like that.”

“Yeah,” Ten agreed, heaving a breath out, “Do we have any way to know for sure?”

His coworker shook his head. “No,” he replied, “But if there’s something going on, one of them will slip up eventually.”

***

“Are you sure he’ll like this?” Jaehyun asked, eyeing suspiciously at the cup he was holding in his hands.

Jungwoo hummed, not really sure what to reply. “I mean, maybe?” he offered, busy choosing between two kinds of scented candles, “Since you’re the one giving him the present, I’m pretty sure Sicheng will appreciate the thought at the very least.”

Jaehyun huffed in defeat at that statement. It had been a couple of weeks since he’d started looking for a Christmas present for his boyfriend, but had no luck in finding things Sicheng would actually like to have. He’d tried them all; books, candles, plants, new plates for his kitchen, mugs, even yoga mats- no matter how hard he searched for the perfect present, everything seemed to be wrong. 

He’d asked Jungwoo for help, hoping that his friend could, maybe, help him out a bit? Give him some kind of moral support, perhaps? But he wasn’t doing a good job of providing either of the two options.

“Hey, maybe you could give him a sweater or something?” Jungwoo asked, finally choosing a candle, “Isn’t he always complaining about how cold he gets in winter anyway?”

Jaehyun’s head whipped towards his friend, a new glint of determination in his eyes. “Woo! You’re a genius, I knew I could count on you!” he said, hugging the other, “Let’s get out of here, I need to find something, like, right now.”

Having to wait for Jungwoo to pay for the stuff he’d actually decided to buy inside of the shop didn’t ruin Jaehyun’s eagerness in the slightest- he was basically vibrating next to his friend, ready to sprint to the closest clothing shop around. 

Luckily for them, being in a mall didn’t make the job of finding one too difficult: they just had to step out and choose whether or not they were staying on that floor. (In the end they took the elevator and entered the first shop in sight.) And Jaehyun started on his mission as soon as he got to a section he deemed worthy enough of his boyfriend. He browsed for a couple of minutes in silence before settling between a cardigan and a cute, warm sweater. Just as he was finally making up his mind about them, Jungwoo patted his shoulder.

“Jae, isn’t that Taeyong-hyung?” he asked, making Jaehyun raise his head to look for the person his friend was talking about.

Jaehyun squinted his eyes, having trouble recognizing his work friend. “Are you sure? I don’t-”

“Oh my God, it’s him!” Jungwoo almost shouted, already walking towards the person he thought was their colleague, “Taeyong-hyung! Hyung!”

And he got too far for Jaehyun to listen to what he was saying so, albeit begrudgingly, he decided to follow him, bringing along with him the two sweaters.

“Hyung, hi,” he greeted once he managed to catch up with Jungwoo.

Taeyong smiled and it was only then that Jaehyun noticed the man that was there with him.

He’d never seen this person, he realized. The stranger had black hair and was slightly taller than Taeyong. Seeing as this man and his work friend were standing so close together, arm in arm, Jaehyun thought that _hey_ , maybe this was the husband Taeyong had mentioned, like, twice during his time working at the company.

It seemed that Jungwoo had come to the same conclusion, because a moment later he gasped in surprise. “Oh my God!” he exclaimed, “Could this be… Taeyong-hyung’s famous husband?”

“ _Famous…_?” the stranger looked taken aback for a second, exchanging a glance of confusion with their work friend, before Taeyong sighed and muttered something under his breath. Jaehyun didn’t catch whatever that was, but the stranger did.

He rolled his eyes, but still shook Jungwoo’s hand with a smile. “The name’s Doyoung,” he introduced himself. 

Jungwoo took that as an invitation to continue their conversation. “It’s so nice to finally meet you,” he smiled, as cheery and happy as ever, “What are you guys doing here?”

“Just some late shopping for Christmas presents,” Taeyong answered, “Choosing gifts is always super hard for me, so I usually need some company to keep me sane till the end of the day.”

Doyoung snorted at that. “It’s not that hard choosing gifts, you just look for the most specific things on the planet,” he said, diverting his gaze towards Jaehyun and Jungwoo, “He’s every clerk’s worst nightmare! Earlier he asked for- wait, what was the name?”

“I knew I should’ve brought Johnny along instead of you,” Taeyong groaned, earning a huff from his husband.

“Aren’t you tired of him? You guys are always together, I barely get to hang out with you now,” he said, with a smile, “I thought we had agreed that I’m way better than him, so I really don’t get the hype.”

The other laughed at that, seemingly very amused by his husband’s words. “You’re right, you’re right,” he conceded, “Man, I even forgot that we had that talk…”

Doyoung offered him a proud smirk. “Of course I’m right… Now, back to our conversation, what the hell was the name of that thing you asked for earlier? The face that girl made was absolutely priceless-”

Taeyong hit him on the shoulder. “Fine, I get it, I’m unreasonable,” he sighed, pouting, “Now stop trying to embarrass me in front of my friends.”

Jungwoo laughed at the exchange. “Don’t worry hyung, it happens,” he assured, pointing at Jaehyun, “We’ve been here for three hours because Jae couldn’t decide what to get for Sicheng- I’m so tired, I’m tempted to leave him here and go have lunch by myself.”

Jaehyun elbowed him. “You’re supposed to be here for moral support,” he scolded, already tired himself, “And I already promised I’d buy you lunch, you liar.”

“Fine, fine,” Jungwoo sighed, turning his head towards the other two men, “Hyung, it was nice seeing you and finally meeting your husband!”

Taeyong offered him a tight-lipped smile, while Doyoung just looked amused for some reason. 

“We’ll leave now, have a nice rest of the day,” Jaehyun said, and everyone went back to do whatever the hell they were doing.

Jaehyun finally decided to buy both the cardigan and the sweater, and Jungwoo dragged him to lunch in some fancy restaurant with a price range that was slightly higher than what he’d been prepared for that day. As they were eating their meal, Jungwoo started humming. “Taeyong-hyung and his husband look so cute together, don’t they?” he suddenly asked. 

“Yeah, they look cute,” Jaehyun agreed, then, “But man, even hyung’s husband had to complain about Johnny-hyung.”

Jungwoo nodded. “It seems that we weren’t the only ones to think that they do spend a little too much time with each other…”

Jaehyun then thought of the words that Ten had told him the other day.

“Right, Woo,” he started, “Did Ten tell you about his theory? He said he thinks those two are cheating on their partners with each other.”

His friend nodded, eyes alert. “Yeah, but I don’t know- I mean, how fucked up would that be? Johnny-hyung has a child already and Taeyong-hyung is too much of a good person to do something like that.”

“That’s what Ten said,” Jaehyun commented, “It’d be so weird if it was true, wouldn’t it?”

Jungwoo sighed, agreeing. “Yeah, but, I mean, Taeyong-hyung’s husband looked pretty calm about it, so maybe they _are_ just friends- otherwise they wouldn’t joke about it so freely, don’t you think?”

“Yeah, I think so too,” Jaehyun took a sip of his drink.

The two continued their meal while discussing some unrelated work stuff, then decided that they could go for a hot chocolate in one of the cafes nearby.

“By the way, you have to tell Sicheng that his present was a collaboration,” Jungwoo said, catching Jaehyun off guard, “I think i deserve a thank-you kiss, too… Especially after the morning you made me go through”.

***

The situation only got worse from there.

Ten couldn’t keep count of the weird instances that kept happening anymore- he just witnessed them, each time getting more and more worried.

He didn’t like it one bit. He saw Johnny’s wife already and he heard from Jaehyun about Taeyong’s husband and Ten was convinced that those two didn’t deserve to be cheated on like this. Nobody really does.

His respect for both his coworkers did nothing but drastically fall down these past months. Ten stopped inviting Taeyong to hang out and Jaehyun started doing the same with Johnny- their small group of friends completely cut the duo off from outside work stuff. 

Not that they went out that much during work weeks, but still. The group was making it clear that they didn’t want to get involved with those two cheaters.

Despite all this, though, Ten wanted to confront them--also Jungwoo wanted to hear their reasoning because “But what if they get secretly abused at home or something?” The others doubted it, but whatever--and he was pretty firm in his decision. He just needed to find the right moment to do so. 

And the right moment seemed never right, unfortunately.

That’s how Ten and his friends found themselves in the break room before work even started on one Monday morning.

Sicheng was getting tired of having to decline Taeyong’s invites to lunch out - especially because every time the older offered to treat him and Sicheng liked free meals a lot - so he wanted to confront them that day. No waiting until Friday so they didn’t have to see them on the weekend. Today.

Luckily for him, the others were on board with the idea.

“So we just have to wait for them to come into work and as soon as they leave their desks to have their 11:30 break, we jump them?”

“No one is getting jumped, Jaehyun,” Ten glared at his friend, “We’re just going to tell them that we know what they are doing and that we want an explanation… then, maybe, I guess… someone could get hit-“

At that, Sicheng rolled his eyes. “No violence, and if you guys really feel the need to punch these two, do it outside of work so at least you won’t get fired.”

“That’s a great idea-“

“What are you guys talking about?”

The small group fell into silence when they saw one of the interns, Donghyuck, enter the break room. 

“Nothing, just… our colleagues… Kun, Yuta… Johnny and Taeyong,” Jungwoo answered, keeping it vague enough for him not to ask further questions.

And Donghyuck nodded, “Ah those two!” he exclaimed, looking like he remembered something important, “Are they together or something? They’d be a cute couple if they were together.”

Ten blinked. “What makes you say that?” he asked, watching Donghyuck walk towards the coffee machine.

The intern shrugged, hitting a few buttons. “I kinda saw them be all lovey dovey the other day and I wondered if they were official yet”.

Ten’s eyes widened in shock. What the hell were these two idiots thinking? Wasn’t the point of secretly cheating on someone… _not_ _getting caught???_

“They have some nerve,” Jaehyun muttered under his breath, looking very pissed.

Just as they were starting back on their conversation about the best way and time to confront (or better, hit) their two coworkers, Jungwoo glanced out the window. “Guys… isn’t that Johnny’s car?” he asked and the others came to look outside.

“It is,” Jaehyun nodded, “But why is he here this early on a Monday morning? He usually comes in later”

As they were watching the car park on the sidewalk opposite to their company, they saw someone come out of the passenger's side.

Jungwoo gasped. “Oh my god… is that Taeyong?!”

And upon a closer look, they quickly found out that, indeed, it was their coworker Taeyong.

“Why did Johnny give a lift to Taeyong on a Monday morning? Doesn’t he have a kid to watch over?”

Hell if anyone knew at that point.

“Oh? You guys think they spent the night together or something? So are they dating?” came Donghyuck’s voice from behind them.

He probably didn’t even hear them discuss the situation and just came over just to mind someone else’s business. 

“Them spending the night together isn’t something that we can rule out of the question,” Sicheng agreed, watching as their coworker crossed the road and entered their building as Johnny’s car drove away.

“You think so too, right?” Donghyuck pressed, waiting for someone to agree with him, “They’re totally going out, aren’t they? Mark owes me 50 bucks if they are.”

Ten sighed. “Those 50 bucks might as well be yours already”.

“Fuck yeah”, Donghyuck jumped, running out of the break room yelling something along the lines “Mark Lee you useless gay, get your radar checked and pay up.”

As soon as the intern left the room, the small group of friends became somber once again. They really needed to confront those two before they did more damage. 

At 11:30 on the clock, Johnny and Taeyong were both in the break room chatting with Yuta from Human Resources. They looked like they were enjoying themselves, or at least, that’s what Ten thought the moment he saw them.

He thought they were kind of assholes for being so happy while doing all that crap behind their significant others. And to be perfectly blunt, Ten thought that they were shitty people. 

Like, real shitty. Human garbage level of shitty.

Still, he needed to talk to these two one last time before completely cutting them off. He wanted to know- well, Jungwoo more than him- why they were being so crappy now, when at the beginning they gave off the impression of being such good people.

The whole group approached the trio and Yuta stopped talking for a second to arch a brow in their direction. “Hey guys, what’s up?”

Ten still had the decency to smile at them and politely asked if they were available to chat for a bit about… something very important.

“Sure,” Taeyong agreed and Yuta didn’t even bother leaving. He just perched himself on the closest couch and stayed there. And, even if Ten wasn’t really that keen on giving a public exhibition, even Yuta needed to know.

The first one to break the tension was Johnny. “So, what’s up?”, he asked, looking like he had absolutely no idea why the guys would want to talk with them about ‘something important’.

Ten sighed, clenching his fists to give himself a bit of courage. “We know what you guys are doing,” he started, not diving immediately to the point, because Yuta was still there and he didn’t want to shock him right away.

“What are we doing…?” Taeyong repeated, sounding confused, but definitely more alert than just seconds earlier.

Ten grimaced. “We know…”, he glanced at his side and Yuta was still there, paying so much attention to the conversation going on in front of him, Ten felt guilty about having him there, “...about your _arrangement_ , if you will.”

And then, something happened.

Johnny grinned really wide, while smacking Taeyong on the shoulder, clearly pleased with himself. Taeyong’s posture worsened as he hunched his shoulder in defeat while muttering “I hate you, why did I even agree to this”.

Jaehyun furrowed his brows. “What are you guys doing? What’s going on?”

“What’s going on, my friend, is that I just won!” Johnny answered, looking even more thrilled.

“What the fuck?” Ten was getting seriously lost, and that made him lose his temper, “Did you win something now that we found out you two are cheating on your significant others with each other?!”

At that, Johnny’s grin disappeared and a confused expression took its place. “What… cheating? What?” 

Even Taeyong looked pretty surprised by the accusation, looking like he’d never heard of that word in the first place.

Ten scoffed. “We know everything, okay? We know Johnny is cheating on his wife, despite having already a kid-“

“ _Jisung_ ,” Sicheng supplied.

“Jisung! Your wife and your kid do not deserve to be cast aside and forgotten just because your college boyfriend came back into your life!”

Taeyong blinked at that, trying to understand what was going on. “Jisung? Are you talking about my nephew and my sister?”

“Sister?” Jungwoo repeated, “Even worse! Cheating on her with her brother?! _Really?!_ ”

Sicheng stopped his friend. “Wait, Woo… I don’t think that’s the case…”

“Because it’s not,” Taeyong sighed, taking the golden ring out of his finger and offering it to Ten, “Read what’s engraved inside.”

Ten glared at him for a second, wondering what the hell was happening. Still, he looked for the words on the ring and, when he found them, he read out loud “ _Taeyong and… Johnny, Forever and Always_ ”

His eyes widened significantly, getting even more confused. What the fuck?

“What the hell is going on?”, asked Jaehyun, turning towards Taeyong, “And what about your husband then??? Doyoung?”

“Doyoung? Kim Doyoung?” said Yuta again from his little corner, “I went on a date with him last week- I was just talking to Taeyong about it before you guys came in”.

The guys all threw questioning looks at their coworker. “Doyoung’s my best friend from college,” he answered, looking very tired already from all of these conversations they were having, “He was my best man at the wedding”.

“Then-” Ten intervened again, “Then what about Jisung? Is he really not Johnny’s child? Why was he even dropped off in the first place?”

Taeyong sighed, draping his palm over his face, “My sister works at the hospital and lately she’s been getting weird shifts, plus my brother-in-law has a 9 to 5 job- Johnny and I offered to help with Jisung whenever we could, because good babysitters are expensive and Johnny has always had flexible hours at work.”

After that, silence. 

And for a good 5 minutes too. 

“Then… then are you guys really married?”, asked Jungwoo, hoping not to get smacked by someone who had followed the discussion from beginning to end.

Johnny nodded. “Yeah, have been for… 3 years now, right honey?” offering a sweet smile to his _real_ husband.

“Yup, 3 years of regretting ever saying yes to you”, Taeyong joked, kissing Johnny’s cheek afterwards.

They looked at each other sweetly for a couple of seconds before being interrupted.

“Oh!” Yuta made his presence known again, “Johnny, you said you won something earlier?”...Yuta really paid attention to their conversation, huh.

Johnny’s previous grin came back full force on his face. “Right! I won! Sadly, I can’t tell you what exactly, but I’ll have to thank both Ten and my beautiful husband for this victory,” he said solemnly, “I couldn’t have done it without them.”

Ten blinked a couple of times at that. “Me? What did I have to do with all this?”

And Johnny just smiled. “Don’t worry, you just helped the process of Taeyong revealing we were actually married,” he explained, “I bet him on the first week I was here that he’d be the first one to sing about our relationship-“

“Which was a completely stupid idea to even begin with. I don’t even know why I agree to do these bets with you when in the end I’m the only one who always loses,” Taeyong pouted, irritated. Then he looked towards the guys, “I really wanted to introduce you properly, but I got tricked into doing this bet.”

The guys couldn’t really do anything besides apologize for having made so many assumptions on them and their relationship. Both parties were at fault in the end, so they just agreed to forget the whole thing entirely. 

After that day, everything went back to normal.

And by normal, Ten means that Taeyong and Johnny still looked like they were always exchanging secrets when they were alone in the break room and, despite showing little to no pda in the office, now Ten could see that they were more relaxed about their relationship. 

_Also, Donghyuck and Mark were both let in the fact that Taeyong and Johnny were married already. Mark had to give his friend another 50 bucks_.

***

Johnny was new.

“You’re the talk of the office,” Taeyong had told him one day over coffee, “Everyone is wondering what the new guy in the marketing department will look like.”

He’d laughed at that, not really taking his husband seriously. But now, Johnny thought, maybe he should’ve believed Taeyong’s word. The marketing department was an absolute mess from the minute he walked in. People stopped focusing on whatever they were doing to take a glance at him- the new guy, the one everyone had made assumptions about.

And Johnny wasn’t expecting that kind of welcome on his first day. Not at all. To be perfectly honest, he hadn’t expected _any_ kind of welcome from his colleagues. In the past few days Taeyong had always looked beyond tired whenever he came home from the office, (and was always complaining about his back pains, but Johnny could easily get rid of them with a calming massage) so he thought that the rest of the office would also be either too worked to the bone to care about a newcomer or that the people there would simply… mind their own business.

Ah, _wishful thinking_. Johnny sighed, easily smiling at whoever walked past him. If he was going to be the talk of the office, he was going to make sure that nobody had anything bad to say about him.

He reached the department manager’s office and introduced himself as the new guy.

“Ah yes, of course,” the manager, Taeil, smiled brightly, shaking Johnny’s hand firmly, “You’re the talk of the office today.”

And Johnny chuckled sincerely, because he’d noticed how the rest of the people there were especially adamant in looking at him rather than getting work done.

That, or… maybe Taeyong had prepared all his colleagues for the fact that his husband would’ve been joining them soon? Johnny hoped so- he would’ve been way less uncomfortable in knowing that his coworkers were just curious because Taeyong had bragged a little about him.

_To be completely honest, the thought alone made him feel giddy inside_.

Taeil offered to take him to his cubicle and Johnny gladly accepted his company. As they made small talk, Johnny tried his best to remember the way he came in and how the desks were placed all around the office, trying to make a map of the office inside his head. 

Once he sat down at his desk, Johnny let out a heavy breath and decided that he was tired already. Maybe it was the fact that people wouldn’t stop looking at him like he was a zoo animal, maybe it was because he’d woken up late that morning so he hadn’t had the chance to drink some coffee yet-

Either way, he felt exhausted, extremely fatigued and more than ready to take a nap somewhere.

Unfortunately for him, _someone_ \--their soul be damned--decided that that was the perfect moment to introduce themselves.

“Hi, you’re the new guy, right?” Johnny’s head snapped in the direction the voice came from, “Oops, sorry if I startled you! I’m Jaehyun.”

Johnny was quick to shake his hand. “Johnny, nice to meet you.” 

The other man offered him a smile, pleased. “Well, Johnny, it looks like we’re gonna be deskmates from now on,” he clasped his hands, nodding his head towards their computers, “I hope we’ll get along fine.”

And Johnny smiled. He was already making friends- wow- he felt like a child on the first day of school.

Taeyong would surely be proud of him.

Speaking of his husband, Johnny didn’t see him at work for the following four days.

It was sad, really. It wasn’t anybody’s fault, just the company’s—Johnny joined during a very busy time, after all—but he was hoping to see a glimpse of him at work. Taeyong had been coming home later and going out earlier in the morning, feeling more exhausted than ever and Johnny didn’t know how to help him.

He felt bad. And when he tried to talk to his husband about the matter, Taeyong simply told him to “stop pouting, I need to get some sleep, but your lips are disrupting my inner peace.” 

So he spent his days feeling bummed out about the fact that Taeyong was always tired while Johnny had too much energy for his own good. (He’d been going to the gym every other day to relieve some stress and tire himself out and his husband, the light of his life, hadn’t even noticed how much more ripped he’d become because he was too sleep deprived! His husband- the one that loved to sleep on Johnny’s biceps because, according to him, they were comfy- didn’t notice! That one had hurt and Johnny realized then that the damage was way bigger than he’d initially thought it was.) 

He was finally able to see Taeyong at work almost after a week of him being there. 

During those days of great loneliness, Johnny had come to know a couple guys from the marketing team: Jaehyun (his deskmate and first friend there), then Sicheng (a quiet guy that every once in a while came to check that Jaehyun was drinking his water and doing work properly) and Jungwoo (a sweet man with a very soft voice who introduced himself a couple days after Johnny’s arrival).

They weren’t many people, but they were still company, and Johnny was glad he had someone to talk to while his husband struggled to speak more than two sentences because of exhaustion.

Johnny was with Sicheng in the break room and the both of them had decided to get some coffee before starting to work properly, making small talk. Johnny was laughing at something Sicheng said from his seat in the corner of the room, when he spotted Jungwoo approach them.

“Good morning,” his colleague smiled, greeting them. Jungwoo was as sweet as he was tall and, so far, Johnny had always seen him happy and cheerful.

He smiled back easily, while Sicheng hummed something under his breath. 

“Oh, right,” Jungwoo jolted, as if suddenly remembered something, “I don’t think you two have had a chance to meet yet!” he gestured to someone that was right outside the room to come in.

“Johnny, this is Taeyong,” he introduced and Johnny’s face instantly lit up, “Taeyong, this is the new guy, Johnny”.

The two shared a smile, even though Taeyong’s looked tired more than anything. 

“Hey, you,” Johnny offered him his cup of freshly brewed coffee, “It’s been a while since I last saw you.”

And Taeyong huffed out a breath of amusement, gracefully accepting the bitterest coffee he’d probably ever taste in his entire life. 

Jungwoo’s eyes instantly widened. “Do you guys know each other?” he asked, absolutely clueless about their relationship.

Johnny arched his brow at that. _Oh?_ Had Taeyong not told his work friends about him? Looking at his husband, his eyes fell once again on the other’s dark circles and figured that _no_ , their coworkers probably didn’t know about them.

He took the opportunity to make a joke. “We do, we were boyfriends in college,” he laughed, causing both Sicheng and Jungwoo to glance between themselves a couple of times.

Was that piece of information _that_ shocking? Johnny had the smallest urge to get offended.

Taeyong rolled his eyes behind his cup of coffee, but made no effort to join the conversation. _Ah_ , Johnny thought, his hubby really was tired if he didn’t even bother to explain what was going on.

“I had no idea, but,” Jungwoo blinked his shock away, quickly gesturing them and their hands- he’d probably notice the wedding band on their fingers a while ago- rushing his next words out, “But I see you both did well for yourselves, I mean- both married to, hopefully, good people and both with very coveted jobs… What an odd way to reconnect, huh.”

Johnny was taken aback by the fact that 1) Jungwoo didn’t seem to draw the right conclusion, 2) Taeyong really never said _anything_ about him being his husband and that 3) Sicheng looked really deep in thought while the whole situation was unfolding before him.

Taeyong let out a long sigh, finally finishing his coffee right as Sicheng stood up from his seat. “Jungwoo, I need your help with something,” he said, grabbing his coworker’s arm, “We’ll leave you guys to catch up, I’m sure there’s a lot you have to say to each other.” 

And with that the two men exited the room. They were gone and Johnny found himself wanting to smother his husband with care and affection right then and there.

“Baby, you look horrible,” he said once he was sure the other two were out of hearing range.

Taeyong huffed. “I know, I know. You’re not the first one to tell me that this morning.”

Johnny hummed as he took the cup from the other’s hands. “Let me guess… Ten?”

His husband nodded although reluctantly. “Ten… And then Yuta from Human Resources, then Jungwoo and even a couple of interns,” he sighed, letting his shoulders sag at the thought.

“Maybe it’s time you start listening to your wonderful husband and stop pushing yourself too much,” Johnny crossed his arms, making the other giggle at his attempt at being intimidating.

“You’re right, I’m sorry,” he smiled, “Tomorrow I’m calling in sick and sleeping all day.”

Johnny immediately groaned. “It’s a shame I’m still new here otherwise I would’ve kept you company,”

Taeyong ruffled his hair, silently thanking him for the thought. 

They stayed in silence for a few moments, each of them enjoying the lack of noise and voices that seemed to be everywhere in the office. 

Then, Johnny remembered the exchange he had with Jungwoo just minutes earlier.

“Hey,” he called, and Taeyong hummed in response, “Did you really not tell the others about me joining the workplace?” he asked, making his husband shrug.

“I mean, they know I’m married, they just don’t know you’re my husband,” he grimaced, “I was- _am_ so tired that the fact that they don’t know you at all just slipped my mind, I’m sorr-”

Johnny rushed to shush him. “No, no, no, wait. Don’t apologize, it’s not your fault, I’m not angry”, he took Taeyong’s shoulders between his hands and started gently caressing him with his thumbs, “I was just surprised, that’s all.”

“I’ll introduce you properly as soon as I can,” Taeyong promised, causing his husband to stop his movements.

“Or…” Johnny started, a grin already etched on his plump lips.

Taeyong blinked at him. “Or what?” he asked, then his eyes widened, “Oh no, I know that look and nothing good ever comes out of your mouth whenever you look at me like that.”

Johnny laughed at him, looking at his husband while the other crossed his arms and refused to listen. “Ok, first of all, that’s not true at all. I don’t remember the exact words, but what you said on Valentine’s Day was totally different-” Taeyong hit him, making him giggle, “-And second of all, I was just… going to propose something, but you’re clearly not interested, so…”

Taeyong rolled his eyes, muttering a soft _‘I’m going to regret this’_ , before finally looking Johnny in the eyes. “Fine, what’s your idea?”

Johnny instantly smiled. “Well, how about we make a bet?” Taeyong arched a brow, confused, “Let’s bet on who finds out first about our marriage.”

“Absolutely not,” Taeyong said, crossing his arms once again, “I’m not going to lie to my work friends because of a stupid bet.”

“But babe, we don’t have to lie,” he pouted, “I mean, even earlier I didn’t _technically_ lie and Jungwoo drew his own conclusions.”

Taeyong scoffed, brushing a hand through his blonde locks. “He did it just because you phrased your sentence _like that._ ”

“I was joking- and besides, I didn’t lie. We _were_ boyfriends in college,” he sighed, remembering their younger days. 

They were both so young- Taeyong had an undercut and was sporting a new hair color every other week. And Johnny himself was stressed half the time because of either school or his part-time job. 

Taeyong huffed. “Even if we didn’t lie- what would the prize even be?”

Johnny caressed his cheek, a grin still etched on his lips. “Well, what would you like the prize to be?” he asked, figuring that it was easier to go straight to the point rather than make guesses that could possibly drive his husband away from ever accepting to make the bet.

Taeyong hummed lowly. “Well, I’d love to go to a spa… I’m so stressed these days, not even your massages can completely alleviate my back pains.”

Johnny kept stroking his cheek, offering him a small smile. “Well then. If you win, I’m gonna take you to the best spa around and I’m making you spend a weekend in complete relaxation. How does that sound?” he saw the glint in Taeyong’s eyes and quickly understood that he’d won.

“Oh my God…” Taeyong sighed, “Fine, okay, sure. Let’s make this bet.”

Johnny smiled and took a second to think about it. “Alright, I’m betting on the fact that you’ll be the one to spill the secret,” he said, making his husband frown.

“Not fair, I thought we were supposed to bet on our coworkers!” he whined and Johnny couldn’t help but giggle.

He gave him a peck on the forehead. “Then I also bet on the fact that Ten is the one that’s gonna find out first.”

Taeyong scowled. It was clear he was hoping to bet on his prime source of workplace gossip. “Fine,” he pouted, “Then I bet that _you’re_ the one that’s going to confess and then… I’m betting on Sicheng and Jaehyun… And I’m going to win.”

“Alright, the bets are now closed,” Johnny said, leaving his husband to finally exit the break room, “May the best husband win? I guess? Is that even a thing that people say?” he wondered out loud.

Taeyong rolled his eyes. “Wait a second,” he stopped the other, “What’s gonna happen if you win? Don’t I get to know what happens then?”

Johnny grinned. “Isn’t it more fun if I don’t tell you?” he asked, drawing out an exasperated sigh out of his poor husband, “Besides, since you’re so sure you’re going to win, my prize is gonna be irrelevant anyway.”

***

“...so, because Ten didn’t make the right assumption, I had to rule him out of the question. But! My sweet husband, you were the one that made them see the ring and also the one who so eloquently explained the situation,” Johnny explained, glancing briefly at Taeyong while still keeping his eyes on the road.

The other huffed. “That just sounds wrong,” he complained, his mood clear even behind his big, dark sunglasses, “Didn’t you have a part in that too? Did you really stay silent the whole time???”

Johnny let out a laugh. “Oh God, I believed I talked after the situation was already cleared,” he smiled, “But that’s all in the past! We have to look forward! Forward to our beautiful weekend at the lake! Aren’t you excited to go fishing?”

Taeyong furrowed his brows even more. “Of all the things you could choose to do, you really chose the thing I dislike the most, huh,” he commented, his tone flat, “But, yeah, whatever. Even if we don’t catch anything at least we’ll have some fun looking around, won’t we?”

***

_In the end Johnny decided to surprise Taeyong last minute and drove them to the spa - because he thought his husband deserved to relax after these months of tension and exhaustion._

_Also, Johnny is a weak, weak man for his husband’s smile, but that’s something for the two of them only._

**Author's Note:**

> come chat with me on Twitter: @_yongalicious


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